EMIK brought together painting, photography, performance, music and digital art in a multidisciplinary exhibition at Postwerk Tegel in Berlin. Initiated by Culture.Room and Abstract.Projects, the exhibition challenged linear modes of presentation and created an experiential environment in which contemporary art could be encountered across multiple sensory channels.

Marlon Nikolai participated as one of eight exhibiting artists, presenting the paintings Sakura and Unleashed in Montreal. Alongside the exhibition, he collaborated with pianist Roman Nagel on a live action painting performance. During Nagel’s piano performance, Nikolai painted directly onto the instrument, bringing sound, movement, gesture and material intervention into a simultaneous process.

Following the performance, the transformed piano was auctioned as a benefit project in cooperation with CancelCancer. One hundred percent of the proceeds were donated to the initiative. The piano was acquired by a private couple and was intended to become part of their wedding celebration through a subsequent musical performance.

Seen within Nikolai’s broader practice, EMIK marks an early manifestation of an investigation that continues through his work today: perception beyond the purely visual and the translation between auditory and visual information, bodily action, material, movement and experience.

Sakura was acquired by Glockenweiß during the exhibition and subsequently installed within the company’s Berlin office environment.